(Opening statement) -- “Good morning everybody. I think you guys had an opportunity to visit with Condoleezza Rice yesterday as we did and the guys really enjoyed it. She spent some time talking with the team and answering questions. She was so impressive, one, her accomplishments are so impressive but even in talking to her and hearing some of her thoughts and some of the stories that she shared we really appreciated it as a group. Plus she’s a die-hard Browns fan which we always enjoy visits from die-hard Browns fans. Today we are going to work on our red zone and clear some things up from the third down yesterday and a few things on first and second down that I think we need to tighten up. I thought Colt (McCoy) had another good day yesterday and has made strides from last week to this week so that’s been positive. In terms of the guys that are going to miss today it will be Jake (Delhomme), Seneca (Wallace), John St. Clair and Mohamed (Massaquoi), everyone else should be out and practicing.”

(On if Joshua Cribbs is practicing today) -- “Yes.”

(On if Cribbs is on track to be ready for Sunday) -- “Yes, he should be ready for Sunday baring any setbacks.”

(On if they can rule out Massaquoi) -- “No, I wouldn’t rule him out yet. He just hasn’t reached that next step.”

(On how good it will be to have Cribbs for the game on Sunday) -- “He does so many things and he does so many things well that it just creates a lot of options offensively. Obviously his ability in the return game, that changes the way teams have to deal with us so that’s a real plus. There are so many elements Mary Kay (Cabot), that he helps us. It’s great to have him back.”

(On if he has a problem with Cribbs tweeting about how James Harrison is still his boy even though he was injuring other Browns players) -- “I haven’t read any tweets, I’m not on his tweet list or whatever it’s called. You can ask Josh in terms of what he meant, knowing Josh it would never be anything disparaging against one of his teammates, his team, him and Mohamed are very close. Really, talk to him about it, I haven’t seen the tweets or any of that stuff.”

(On why Cribbs’ big play production is off this season) -- “He’s catching more passes, the Wildcat has been used in different amounts throughout the course of the year. I think his made some big catches, I think he’s made important catches. I don’t think Josh sneaks up on anybody. Teams have had more time now to deal with the Wildcat. They’ve had a whole offseason. There are a lot of things that go into stopping that and I think they’ve spent a lot of time stopping that so trying to continue to evolve there. In the return game, there’s a concerted effort by every team we play to get the ball away from him. We can try to position him in as many spots as possible to get him the ball but if they’re not going to kick it to him there’s not much we can do about that.”

(On Pittsburgh players saying that stopping Cribbs was their top priority and how he changes the flow of the game even when he isn’t always touching the ball) -- “I think that quote alone shows you the importance that teams place on not letting him ruin the game and that can be not letting him ruin the game in the return game or not letting him ruin the game in the Wildcat. Whether or not he touches the ball, the volume of time and energy and thought that has to go into preventing that takes away from their ability to prepare for the other things so there’s real value in that. Anytime you can have a package like the Wildcat or use him on things like reverses and the important thing is for him to be a legitimate receiver which he is so that he’s not only going in when those packages are going to be there. Now you have the ability to balance up what you want to do and force them to defend all of the options when he’s in the game.”

(On what Lance Moore brings to the table) -- “As a returner, I’ve enjoyed watching him I think he’s aggressive as a returner. He’ll take some chances that some guys won’t and that has led to some big plays. As a receiver, that group is loaded and he is continuing to become more and more of an explosive option. Whether it’s deep balls, as a returner he has good ability to make people to miss in the open field so there will be some catch and run type plays. They use him on some screens where he’ll bluff then get the ball. He’s become another really good option for Drew Brees and the offense and that’s just another thing that we have to overcome.”

(On if Lance Moore is a guy that they wish they didn’t let get away) -- “It would be nice if he was here but there’s a lot of guys like that that you have down the street. (Marques) Colston was at Hofstra which is across the street from the facility, literally across the street from the facility. Sometimes those guys get away on the flip side of that Wayne Chrebet walked over for a work out and he ended up playing there for a long time. Some you get and some you don’t and you wish you get them all.”

(On if the Falcons and Steelers defended them differently against the run after seeing them play against Baltimore and Cincinnati) -- “Pittsburgh is the number one rush defense in the NFL. They’re pretty good against every single team that they play. In the fourth quarter, it wasn’t the same balance for us in terms of our run pass ratio because the score changed late there in the third quarter or I think those numbers would have been higher. Typically, the running game as the game goes on, the three yard runs become four yard runs or five yard runs because you start wearying down the defense. You’ve got to be able to do that through four quarters and that’s keeping the game close. Against Atlanta I think it was a lot of things. I don’t think that we dealt with their scheme very well. I don’t think that we locked great up front, I don’t think we ran very well, I don’t think our runs were the best in terms of the ones we used. It was a group effort, we were all a part of that and it should have been better.”

(On Billy Yates playing at right guard and Floyd Womack at right tackle yesterday at practice) -- “Yes, and then the day before Shawn (Lauvao) was the right guard so they switch. One guy started Wednesday the other guy got the second reps then they flipped it and it’s just to balance up the reps as we go through the week.”

(On who is going to start at right guard between Lauvao and Yates) -- “I think one of those two. Steve (Vallos) will work more as the back-up center, left guard but it will be one of those two guys. We’ll see today.”

(On how Floyd Womack played at right tackle last year) -- “I thought he played well, I really did. Even before he was here he’s played all over the offensive line, right tackle, left tackle, inside. Chop is one of those guys that nothing fazes him and regardless of where you put him he’s going to do a good job, he’s going to take care of his assignments, he’s going to be sound. I really like that about him and you love guys like that. There’s some guys if you move them from right guard to left guard it’s like the sky is falling. It’s this huge dramatic thing, I’m not saying on our team, but from right safety to left safety it’s this big thing and there’s other guys where it’s like ‘Oh okay it’s on the offensive line, right guard? No problem. Right tackle? No problem. Center? No problem.’ Chop’s one of the other guys.”

(On how rookie offensive linemen sometime struggle and how Shawn Lauvao might do in his first action as a rookie) -- “I think there’s truth to the fact that there’s growing pains and things that you have to deal with. The one guy that I saw that didn’t struggle was Jonathan Ogden. When he went out there, and I think I’ve told this story, the first day they were all lining up to go against him. He just stoned person after person and the next day, that line got a lot smaller. He didn’t struggle right from the beginning, he was impressive. I think Alex (Mack) did a good job when he started right from the beginning, but there were things that he had to work through. I feel like I’ve had a lot of them over time, Nick (Mangold), D’Brickashaw (Ferguson). There’s going to be growing pains, but if Shawn does get the opportunity, I think he’ll do a great job.”

(On if Joe Haden will get reps with the base defense on Sunday) -- “He works in there consistently, both for Eric (Wright) and Sheldon (Brown). He plays in nickel and dime. He’s had some base reps throughout the course of the season. Like I said, he’s been about a 40-50 percent play time guy already this year. We will just kind of see how it goes.”

(On if he is still hoping for Delhomme or Wallace to be active Sunday) -- “Yes, I’d say Seneca is a little further ahead than Jake, so he’d be closer.”

(On what McCoy can learn from Drew Brees and his success being similar in height) -- “I think just the fact that he has had that tremendous success. Typically what you do in evaluating players, and you can get caught up in this trap, is you’re always defining what they can’t do instead of what they can do. I think you sometimes fall in that trap of what they can’t do because they’re 5-8 or they’re this speed or whatever the case may be. Year after year, guys go out that aren’t your traditional height, weight, speed, didn’t come from the right school, didn’t follow the right path or whatever and excelled. I think it’s just proof that those don’t have to be tremendous limits, those don’t have to be insurmountable barriers and Drew Brees is a great example of that. A guy who isn’t your traditional quarterback height, but has performed at a tremendous level.”

(On the key to McCoy’s field vision and him not getting balls knocked down at the line of scrimmage last week) -- “He’s played at that height for awhile and I’m sure his line in college was the same thing. I think you just get a sense of how you have to view it and where the lines of sight are and that develops over time. He’s had a lot of work behind big players. I don’t think that was new for him. I don’t know if that makes sense. He’s played behind that type of group before.”

(On if there was anything surprising in the video that was sent by the Commissioner) -- “No, I think it was what you’d expect going through legal and illegal hits. Just reemphasizing the importance of player safety and just redefining that.”

(On if he is okay with the idea that coaches could get fined for their players’ illegal hits) -- “It’s all for the same reason, to try to move this forward.”

(On if Mike Bell will have more of a role Sunday now that he has had a full week of practice) -- “He played a decent number of snaps for how little of an amount of time he was here. It will depend on how it’s going with Peyton (Hillis) and how much of his types of packages we end up playing. I think he feels that much more comfortable this week, we feel that much more comfortable with him this week. There’s really no limits on what we would use him for.”

(On if he showed the video from the league to the team yesterday) -- “No, we didn’t get it until last night, so we showed it this morning.”

(On Alex Mack saying that James Harrison was using his helmet to everyone on every play and if that’s what he saw) -- “I didn’t really go through it like that and identify it as hit after hit. You can talk more to Alex about that, but for me now on Friday, we are (working towards the next game). I think we all need to continue to try to do it right. I’m ready to move forward and talk about something different.”

(On if guys will be more timid on Sunday) -- “I don’t know. We will have to see. I’m not sure.”

(On if he expects Marcus Benard to practice today) -- “Yes, he’s here this morning. It was for personal reason and everything’s fine. He had to miss for personal reasons.”

(On if helmet to helmet hits on ball carriers need to be addressed even though they are legal) -- “I think that whatever the league decides, we will work on. I think they’ll spend a lot of time this offseason with the competition committee and input from as many different people as possible to continue to expand player safety. In terms of anything right now, the league has to take the lead on it and we all need to do the best we can to make sure it’s right.”